EVERETT — A convicted sex offender who also is a former Everett firefighter is now at risk of a decade or more in prison after federal authorities took jurisdiction in a case that led to his arrest last month in Wyoming.
David “Pete” Vier, 63, appeared last week in U.S. District Court in Cheyenne, Wyoming, where a magistrate ordered him detained in federal custody. He is being held for investigation of knowingly transporting two girls, 12 and 14, across state lines with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity.
Vier, of Granite Falls, at one point oversaw emergency medical services for the Everett Fire Department. He retired in 2014 after he was arrested in a Seattle police sting attempting to obtain sex from somebody he thought was a 15-year-old girl. He not only lost his Washington paramedic license, the conviction also requires him to register as a sex offender.
Vier was arrested Jan. 20 by the Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office in Wyoming. Two teen girls used his cellphone to call for help, officials said. They were hiding in a restaurant and asked for help getting away from Vier, whom they accused of sexual misconduct, according to an affidavit filed in court by an FBI agent.
The girls said they met Vier in Seattle and told him they were trying to reach Kansas. He allegedly offered to give them a ride.
Along the way, Vier reportedly groped the girls and demanded sexual activity, eventually paying one $40 for a sex act, the affidavit said.
The girls told officials they saw homemade pornography involving young girls on Vier’s cellphone, as well as messages between Vier and a friend about kidnapping and rape.
The girls said they fled when Vier demanded they agree to sex in a motel room. He told investigators he believed the girls were 16 and had been left homeless by family.
“Vier denied sexual activity with the girls,” the affidavit said.
A search of his truck turned up partially used vials of sedatives, including Amidate, a drug that can be used to induce sleep. Investigators also seized a duffle bag that reportedly contained, among other things, sex toys, riding crops, whips, blindfolds, Velcro restraints, a dog collar and a leash, court papers say.
A court-approved search of Vier’s phone found “a vast amount of data pertaining to non-consensual sexual acts” and showed “what appeared to be a fixation on younger females,” Wyoming officials said earlier.
Vier’s 2014 arrest brought to light years of bad behavior on and off his fire department job, much of it revolving around his mistreatment of women. He also took part in a pattern of ambulance billing errors by the city, which led to a recent six-figure federal settlement.
Vier faces 10 years to life in federal prison if convicted of the allegations in Wyoming, court papers say.
Scott North: 425-339-3431; north@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @snorthnews.
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